Mark Webber insists he is not panicking about the gap to his Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel in the standings after two rounds.

Vettel won the first two races of the season, putting him 24 points clear of Jenson Button at the top of the drivers' standings and 28 points ahead of Webber. The Australian struggled for pace at his home grand prix and was hampered in Malaysia by a faulty KERS unit, but reckons his results - a fifth place and a fourth place - are not as bad as they look.

"He's not just beating me, he's beating everyone," Webber said when asked about Vettel in the Shanghai paddock on Thursday. "People always make the natural comparison between you and your team-mate, and Seb is driving really, really well and is on top of a lot of things at the moment.

"For me, the first race wasn't great, and Malaysia was a much, much more positive weekend. Seb was coming onto my pace in the end, he did a great job in Q3, which we've often seen from him - he's very strong in qualifying. In the race it was obviously disappointing that I didn't have a chance to look at the front.

"It could be a lot worse than it is at the moment. I am still performing pretty well, I believe, and also we're learning a lot."

One reporter suggested Webber is to Vettel what Eddie Irvine was to Michael Schumacher at Ferrari in the late 1990s.

"Absolutely f***ing ludicrous question, mate," Webber responded.

As for his mental state, the Australian said: "I'm fine mate. I think if you were much, much younger then obviously you'd be panicking. But I've been around the block."

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